Posts Tagged ‘Tom Kelley’

The widespread adoption of “design thinking” has included a reinsertion of storytelling into many aspects of business life. For a look at its use in product/service design, see, The Ten Faces of Innovation by Tom Kelley of IDEO; in crafting a business plan, see Business Model Generation (both influential books in spreading the design Gospel); in user experience research, Storytelling for User Experience by Whitney Quesenbery & Kevin Brooks has been recommended to me but has not made it to my reading list yet (UX hs not been one of my areas of exploration – yet).

Storytelling is important not only to theater. I agree with Tom Erickson, who says in his article “Design As Storytelling” that design is a social, collaborative activity. I believe a UX designer’s role is to bridge all of the pieces that bring a design to life—from product management, marketing, user research, and design all the way through development. If that is true, communication is critical. Stories become an essential communication vehicle in the user experience world. Every day, we talk to users, bring back their stories, and co-create with them.

Major parts of our work are building personas, creating scenarios, and creating and using prototypes in usability testing—all of which connect our work to real users. Of course, we must also talk with various people within our organization to understand the case for a product’s business value, as well as relevant technical constraints, and negotiate a balance between all of these factors. But, in the end, to get buy in, we need to tell a compelling and engaging story about our design and its value. And we need to evangelize that story. To be successful in design, as well as theater, it makes sense to spend some time on the CSS—the Context, Spine, and Structure.

Art

Gomp/arts
I’m Will Gompertz, the BBC’s arts editor and this blog is for insights, views and ideas – yours and mine.

Community-based Art / Arts & Community

Center for the Study of Art and Community
The Center for the Study of Art & Community believes the time is ripe for creative pioneers. The building of sustainable creative communities and organizations must be undertaken by citizens and institutions with enormous energy and imagination.

Community Arts Network
promoting information exchange, research and critical dialogue within the field of community-based art

Jubilation Foundation
When people are happy, connected, and fully alive, life is good for the individual and the community. The Jubilation Foundation will help young people feel fully alive through rhythm as expressed in dance, music and poetry.

Judith Tannenbaum
Judith Tannenbaum is a writer and teacher whose work has focused on community arts and issues of cultural democracy.